Foreign Office minister Sir Alan said his comments risked "debasing" the Government, Tory Party and the country as a whole, saying: "The ideological right are a minority despite their noise and should pipe down".

Simon Hoare, MP for North Dorset, took to Twitter to tell Rees-Mogg: "The hectoring nonsense / blackmail has to stop, the reality of parliamentary arithmetic dawn and the calamity of a Corbyn Government woken up to".

Tory MP Vicky Ford - a former MEP and supporter of close ties to Europe - told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "What I would say to Jacob... is if this becomes a binary choice between staying in the single market and customs union or no deal, then I do not believe there is a majority for no deal".

The influential Brexiteer has written a column for the Telegraph newspaper in which he appears to make a veiled threat to the Prime Minister.

A Government spokesman said ministers remain confident of securing a good deal with the European Union, ensuring trade would remain "as free and frictionless as possible".

The Times of London reported Monday that a senior civil servant in the department overseeing negotiations with the EU had briefed ministers on the dire situation, telling them they had no chance of a bespoke trade deal in which British companies would have privileged access to the European market.

Meanwhile European leaders stepped up pressure on Mrs May to provide answers on her Brexit plans as she prepared for Friday's Chequers showdown with her Cabinet.

Under the first option, Britain would collect tariffs on imports from outside the bloc on the EUâs behalf. Secondly, the alternative was the maximum facilitation scheme (max fac), which involved new technology and trusted traders.

Theresa May called on European Union leaders to show flexibility and look "seriously" at the UK's Brexit plans as Tory infighting over Europe intensified ahead of crunch talks at Chequers.

She did not deny that the government was now pursuing a Norwegian-style model of single market co-operation following reports in The Times that Downing Street was looking at this option.When asked by Jacob Rees-Mogg whether she would confirm that Britain would leave the EU's customs union at the end of the transition period and no longer be tied to setting the same tariff rates on goods as those set by the European Union, Mrs May said that the United Kingdom would be leaving but declined to answer the second part of his question.She also sidestepped a question from the Labour MP Pat McFadden on whether she would be prepared to extend the transition period. In the hope a truce can be agreed between her feuding ministers, the strategy will be set out in a white paper the following week.

She said: "The EU and its member states will want to consider our proposals seriously".

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